UC-NRLF 


[RRICiATION  IN  CALIFORNIA 


HALL 


1  S  7  g 


UNIV.   OF   CAL 


AGRIC,  DfPT. 


/  * 


SYNOPSIS  OF  A  LECTURE 


ON 


IRRIGATION  IN  CALIFORNIA 


if 


THE  IRRIGATION  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


Synopsis  of  a  lecture  delivered  on  this  subject  in  the  Assembly  Chamber, 
By  WM.  H.  HALL,  C.  E. 


The  lecturer  first  dreW  atten-tifrfrlti  the  very  sad  condition  of  affairs 
existing  in  the  interior  valleys  in  the  southern  half  of  the  State, 
portraying  the  loss  and  suffering  which  had  been  wrought  by  the 
failure  of  rains  during  the  past  seasons.  He  spoke  of  the  present 
abundant  rains,  but  warned  his  hearers  that  so  far  from  being  an 
inopportune  time  to  agitate  the  irrigation  question,  this  was  just  the 
time  for  such  discussion,  for,  by  the  time  any  practical  good  could 
come  of  it,  irrigation  itself  would  again  be  much  needed  else  the 
climate  of  our  State  would  change,  which  was  not  at  all  likely.  We 
must  beware  of  the  policy  of  that  rustic  philosopher  who,  not  want- 
ing a  roof  on  his  house  when  there  was  no  rain,  did  not  put  it  on 
when  he  could,  but  though  sorely  in  need  of  a  roof  when  it  did  rain, 
could  not  put  it  on  when  he  would. 

The  levee  and  reclamation  questions  should  have  been  considered 
two  years  ago  in  order  to  have  been  prepared  for  the  floods  which 
are  now  visiting  us,  and  now  is  the  time  to  consider  the  irrigation 
question. 

Of  the  very  many  efforts  which  have  been  made  by  farmers  and 
land  owners  to  inaugurate  irrigation  enterprises,  few  have  passed  the 
point  where  preliminary  discussion  ends.  To  most  of  the  small 
number  of  these  movements  which  have  taken  on  definite  form  were 
given  but  short  and  fitful  lives,  and  few  have  consummated  in  the 
construction  of  works  to  which  their  projectors  may  turn  with  any 
degree  of  satisfaction.  In  each  instance  of  failure  two  causes  may  be 
assigned — the  absence  of  method,  and  the  lack  of  means. 

Irrigation  property  is  regarded  with  great  disfavor  by  our  capital- 
ists for  two  reasons — the  indefinite  nature  of  the  water  privilege 
acquired  under  past  and  present  laws  respecting  water  rights ;  and 
the  absence,  under  existing  circumstances,  of  that  security  for  ade- 
quate returns  upon  the  investment  which  the  law  of  industrial 
enterprise  demands. 

There,  being  no  definition  of  rights,  and  no  overruling  power  to 
direct  generally,  and  establish  system  amongst  the  different  works  and 
districts,  we  find  discord  wherever  irrigation  has  dared  to  raise  its 
head,  and  disheartening  apathy  everywhere  else  throughout  the  dry 
valleys. 

He  next  reviewed  the  existing  water  appropriation  law  and  its 
workings.  Any  one  can  take  as  much  water  as  he  wants  at  any  point 

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he  choses.  Under  this  law  there  is  an  entire  absence  of  systematic 
apportionment;  there  is  no  knowledge  of  the  capacity  of  the  streams 
to  supply  water;  no  complete  and  intelligent  records  kept  of  the 
amount  of  water  claimed;  no  official  evidence  of  the  amount  of 
water  actually  appropriated;  no  check  upon  injurious  interference 
with  natural  water  courses;  no  definition  or  real  protection  of  the 
rights  of  riparian  owners. 

Rival  appropriators  waste  the  precious  hours  of  the  irrigation  sea- 
sons in  wrangling  over  the  division  of  the  waters,  generally  more 
than  enough  for  all,  while  riparian  proprietors  have  to  resort  to  vio- 
lence or  the  Courts  if  their  interests  are  injured  in  the  melee.  It  is 
this  state  of  affairs  which  it  is  necessary  to  put  an  end  to  by  wise 
legislation. 

The  local  water  commission  laws,  of  which  quite  a  number  have 
been  passed,  as  applicable  to  various  counties  of  the  State,  were  next 
reviewed,  and  their  workings  shown  to  be  scarcely  better  than  that 
of  the  general  water  appropriation  law. 

In  brief,  these  measures  have  failed  of  their  purposes  through  the 
absence  of  general  system,  scientific  treatment,  and  overruling  com- 
petent authority  to  direct,  which,  from  the  nature  of  things,  could  only 
be  vested  in  the  State,  and  executed  by  a  department  of  State  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  general  irrigation  law  of  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-two 
was  then  considered,  and  shown  to  have  worked  to  some  advantage 
for  reclamation  purposes,  but  not  to  have  answered  any  good  end  for 
the  would-be  irrigator.  Under  it  the  districts  could  only  become 
water  appropriators;  there  was  no  general  system,  and  no  defined 
rights  to  water. 

After  all  this  legislation  we  find  the  irrigation  interest  in  a  worse 
condition,  really,  than  it  would  be  if  there  were  no  laws  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  no  works  constructed.  For  now,  rights  have  grown  up 
which  will  have  to  be  condemned,  customs  and  ideas  have  taken 
hold  amongst  the  people  which  will  have  to  be  eradicated  before  the 
irrigation  problem  is  solved. 

We  find  little  to  guide  us  in  the  formation  of  our  policy  towards  the 
irrigation  interest  in  the  experience  of  India,  Egypt,  and  Italy  in  this 
regard;  but  in  the  annals  of  irrigation  in  Spain  we  find  much  that  is 
instructive  in  this  connection. 

In  all  lands  where  irrrigation  has  been  practiced  as  a  general  agri- 
cultural method  it  has  become  necessary  to  supply  by  government 
authority  that  system  in  the  distribution  of  the  waters  from  the 
streams  and  in  the  construction  of  works  the  absence  of  which  has 
caused  such  evil  effects  in  our  irrigated  sections. 

Spain,  particularly,  found,  after  endeavoring  to  get  along  for  years, 
the  absolute  necessity  for  it,  and  was  obliged,  at  great  expense,  to 
correct  a  state  of  affairs  which  had  grown  up,  similar  to  that  towards 
which  we  are  fast  drifting:  the  monopolizing  and  wasteful  use  of 
the  waters  of  her  streams  by  the  few,  to  the  detriment  of  the  general 
interest.  The  Spanish  Government  early  tried  the  policy  of  con- 
structing irrigation  works  at  its  own  expense,  but  after  its  experience 
with  the  Royal  Canals  of  Aragon  and  of  Tauste,  was  dissatisfied  with 
the  course,  and  found  it  more  advantageous  to  encourage  the  con- 
struction of  such  works  by  private  and  corporate  enterprise.  In 
April,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-one,  it  was  announced  that 
twelve  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  the  Royal  funds 


would  be  devoted  to  the  encouragement  of  the  construction  of  irri- 
gation works  under  proper  government  regulations.  This  money 
was  partially  disbursed  as  subsidies  to  projectors  of  irrigation  enter- 
prises, and  partially  as  loans  to  irrigators  and  constructors  of  canals. 
Finally,  after  years  of  consideration  and  investigation,  the  general 
law  governing  water  rights  and  construction  and  maintenance  of 
irrigation  works  was  published  in  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-six. 
A  synopsis  of  this  law  was  given,  and  applications  of  its  principles 
and  salient  features  made  to  our  condition  in  California. 

Irrigation  has  always  been  a  fruitful  source  of  litigation  and  an 
unending  subject  of  legislation. 

There  are  three  elements  which  must  necessarily  be  present  to 
insure  the  commercial  success  of  irrigation :  suitable  lands ;  water 
sufficient  to  irrigate  them ;  population  skillful  and  industrious  to 
use  the  water  to  advantage.  Without  all  of  these  elements  present 
in  the  highest  degree,  irrigation  may  be  gradually  extended,  but  its 
development  cannot  be  forced  without  danger  of  disastrous  failure. 

Although  we  have  millions  of  acres  of  land  which  are  suitable  for 
irrigation  in  a  high  degree,  there  are  also  many  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  acres,  if  not  millions,  which,  owing  to  some  peculiarity  of 
soil  or  configuration  of  surface,  cannot  be  cultivated  with  profit  by 
irrigation  under  any  circumstances  which  are  likely  to  arise  for 
years  to  come. 

Our  water  supply  is  abundant  throughout  the  San  Joaquin  and 
Tulare  Valleys,  for  instance,  ultimately  to  irrigate  all  of  the  lands  in 
those  valleys  which  could  well  lay  claim  to  a  share  of  it;  but,  owing 
to  peculiarities  of  soil  and  excessive  waste  caused  by  lack  of  skill  and 
indifference  on  the  part  of  the  irrigators,  it  does  not  do  its  duty  of 
irrigating  two  hundred  acres  of  land  to  each  cubic  foot  of  flow  for 
four  months,  nor  can  it  be  expected  to  do  this  duty  for  many  years 
unless  the  State  regulates  its  use. 

After  explaining  in  detail  the  peculiar  behavior  of  the  different 
soils  of  the  San  Joaquin  and  Tulare  Valleys,  under  irrigation,  the 
lecturer  said  : 

To  resume — we  have  four  classes  of  lands  worthy  of  special  men- 
tion as  possessing  marked  peculiarities  affecting  the  water  supply 
necessary  for  their  cultivation : 

First — The  delta  lands  of  the  Tulare  Valley  which  at  first  take  a 
great  deal  of  water  to  irrigate  them,  but  gradually  become  thoroughly 
saturated,  and  in  the  course  of  five  years,  perhaps  may  be  irrigated 
with  the  minimum  amount  of  water. 

Second — The  shallow  soil  plain  lands  which  do  not  take  nearly  so 
much  water  to  wet  them  at  first,  but — drying  out  quickly — each  year 
afterwards  require  nearly  as  much  as  thev  did  the  first  year,  and 
always  more  than  the  delta  lands  do  after  they  become  well  wetted 
once. 

Third — The  deep  sandy  soil  plain  lands  which  take  an  immense 
quantity  at  first,  and  always  will  take  more  than  either  of  the  two 
classes  first  mentioned,  and  the  cultivation  of  which  we  need  hardly 
hope  will  be  accomplished  with  the  standard  allowance  of  water  for 
many  years  to  come. 

Fourth — The  deep  soil  alkaline  adobes  which  the  first  year  take, 
perhaps,  as  much  as  either  of  the  others  at  one  irrigation  but  which 
may  demand  ever  afterwards  comparatively  little  at  a  time,  but  con- 


stantty  repeated  applications  late  into  each  season  while  the  crops  are 
growing. 

There  are  in  the  Tulare  and  San  Joaquin  Valleys  four  and  a  half 
to  five  million  acres  of  lands  which  might  be  brought  under  irriga- 
tion if  the  water  supply  were  sufficient.  Not  more  than  half  of  this 
area  is  well  adapted  to  farming  by  irrigation,  and  fully  one-fourth  is 
decidedly  not  well  suited.  If  the  State  should  make  an  apportion- 
ment of  her  waters  this  fourth  would  demand  its  share. 

During  the  past  year  the  lecturer  had  made  and  caused  to  be  made 
many  observations  upon  the  flow  of  the  streams  into  these  valleys 
from  the  Sierra,  and  was  enabled  to  make  very  fair  estimates  of  their 
volume  in  ordinary  seasons  as  well  as  in  the  past  exceptionally  dry 
season. 

The  flow  of  all  the  streams  from  the  Stanislaus  to  the  Kern  River, 
inclusive,  was,  during  March,  April,  May,  and  June,  of  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  seventy-seven,  equivalent  to  an  average  of  twenty  to 
twenty-one  thousand  cubic  feet  of  water  per  second.  In  the  ordinary 
season  their  volume  averaged  during  the  corresponding  period  about 
double  the  quantity.  In  the  month  of  October  of  the  past  year  but 
one  thousand  and  twenty  cubic  feet  of  water  per  second  were  flow- 
ing from  the  mountains  above  ground  in  all  the  streams  spoken 
of — not  more  than  enough  to  fill  one  good-sized  canal. 

Although  on  the  different  soils  the  duty  of  this  water  will  vary 
greatly,  it  might  be  expected  to  irrigate,  on  the  average,  per  cubic 
foot,  per  second,  flowing  for  four  months,  first  year,  thirty  acres ;  fifth 
year,  one  hundred  acres  ;  tenth  year,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  ; 
fifteenth  year,  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres ;  twentieth  year,  two 
hundred  acres.  The  porous  qualities  of  soil  are  not  alone  to  blame 
for  this  deficiency  in  duty  of  water,  but  the  cultivators  themselves 
are,  and  will  be  even  more  at  fault.  At  the  rate  of  two  hundred 
acres  per  cubic  foot,  there  was  enough  water  in  the  streams  to  irri- 
gate the  four  million  acres  of  lands  even  in  this  dry  year.  .But  at 
the  rate  of  thirty  acres  to  the  cubic  foot,  which  is  all  we  can  expect 
for  the  first  year,  under  the  present  conditions,  there  would  not  be, 
even  in  ordinary  seasons,  much  more  than  enough  to  irrigate  thirty 
per  cent,  of  the  irrigable  lands. 

Therefore,  it  seemed  to  the  lecturer  that  the  system  of  districting 
the  irrigable  lands  of  these  valleys  must  be  a  progressive  and  not  a 
predeterminedly  rigid  one.  And  the  waters  should  be  apportioned 
according  to  the  duty  they  will  do  on  the  different  soils,  and  such 
apportionments  should  be  corrected  annually,  as  the  ground  becomes 
filled  up,  and  the  duty  may  be  increased. 

Our  population  is  deficient  in  number,  and  much  wanting  in  skill 
necessary  to  prosecute  irrigation  to  advantage.  ^  General  irrigation  in 
California  must  be  preceded  by  general  immigration.  If  the  State 
forces  one  she  must  force  the  other.  In  the  opinion  of  the  lecturer 
the  State  should  do  everything  in  her  power  to  straighten  out  the 
water-right  and  irrigation  questions  by  establishing  method,  as  far 
as  possible,  but  should  not  guarantee  interest  on  bonds  of  irrigation 
districts,  for  the  reason  that  every  possible  district  would  imme- 
diately organize,  want  its  bonds  guarantied,  and  if  the  State  guaran- 
tied for  one  she  would  have  to  do  so  for  all.  The  result  would  be 
disastrous  failure  to  produce  out  of  the  lands  the  values  necessary  to 
meet  the  demands  upon  them,  for  the  very  good  reasons  that  much 


7    ,,,  •;  ;  v;  ;  ;  ^ 

of  the  land  is  not  well  suited  for  cultivation  by  irrigation;  the;  water 
supply  is  insufficient  to  bring  all  of  this  land  under  cultivation  for 
years  to  come;  the  population  is  not  here,  could  not  be  brought  here 
and  endowed  with  the  necessary  skill  and  industry  to  prevent  the 
failure. 

Irrigation  must  grow  a  gradual  and  a  healthy  growth.     Great 
works  do  not  make  successful  irrigation  enterprise. 


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